There’s been plenty of controversy surrounding the recent changes to AT&T’s smartphone data plans, but journalist Christopher Mimms believes there may be a more pernicious dynamic at work on the lower end of the price spectrum. In an article for the MIT Technology Review, Mimms likens AT&T’s text messaging plans to a regressive tax, arguing that the scheme levies disproportionately high fees upon uneducated and minority consumers from low-income households.

To build his case, Mimms points to a 2011 study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, which found that the most voracious text messagers tend to be uneducated minorities who earn less than $30,000 a year. From 2008 to 2011, however, SMS costs for a wide…

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