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The proposal to expand high-quality early learning opportunities with a 94¢ increase in the federal cigarette tax would produce the following nationwide benefits.
Projected Benefits in the U.S. from Increased Federal Funding for Early Education
The proposed early learning initiative would benefit many U.S. children who currently lack the opportunity to participate in high-quality preschool.
Currently, 15% of the country’s three-year-olds and 42% of the country’s four-year-olds are enrolled in publicly funded preschool (state preschool, preschool special education, or Head Start).
The initiative would initially focus on children in low- and moderate-income families. Nationally, 11.57 million children under age six (48.6%) live in households with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, including 1.96 million four-year-olds.
The proposed early learning initiative could result in the following additional federal funding for and increased participation in preschool and voluntary home visiting nationwide:
| Additional funds provided to the states for preschool over 10 years: | $75.00 billion |
| Additional funds provided to the states for preschool in the first year: | $2.74 billion |
| Children from low- and moderate-income families able to participate in preschool in the 10th year: | 1.96 million |
| Additional children from low- and moderate-income families able to participate in preschool in the first year: | 334,805 |
| Additional funds provided to the states for expanded voluntary home visiting programs over 10 years: | $15.00 billion |
| Additional funds provided to the states for expanded voluntary home visiting programs in the first year: | $433.40 million |
| Number of low-income women who give birth each year; these women and their children may benefit from voluntary home visiting: | 1,134,073 |
Projected Benefits in the U.S. from a 94-Cent Federal Cigarette Excise Tax Increase
Each year, smoking kills more than 400,000 U.S. residents and costs the nation $96.00 billion in health care expenditures. In addition, about 1.33 million youth in the U.S. try smoking for the first time each year. Increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes would reduce the toll of tobacco nationwide, including the following public health benefits:
| Kids alive today prevented from becoming addicted adult smokers: | 1,742,700 |
| Current adult smokers who would quit in the first year: | 1,569,000 |
| Reduction in births affected by smoking over the next 10 years: | 465,600 |
| Americans saved from future premature smoking-caused death: | 989,800 |
| 10-year health care cost savings from fewer smoking-caused lung cancer cases, heart attacks & strokes, and smoking-affected pregnancies & births: | $3.25 billion |
| Long-term health care cost savings from adult and youth smoking declines: | $63.39 billion |
For more information including explanations and sources for the projections, see Appendices A and B.