Cite as: 520 U. S. 806 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
York has forbidden a method of calculating pension benefits that federal law permits,12 or required employers to provide certain benefits.13 Nor is it a case in which the existence of a pension plan is a critical element of a state-law cause of action,14 or one in which the state statute contains provisions that expressly refer to ERISA or ERISA plans.15
A consideration of the actual operation of the state statute leads us to the conclusion that the HFA is one of "myriad state laws" of general applicability that impose some burdens on the administration of ERISA plans but nevertheless do not "relate to" them within the meaning of the governing statute. See Travelers, 514 U. S., at 668; Dillingham
ERISA generally does pre-empt "any State tax law relating to employee benefit plans." 29 U. S. C. § 1144(b)(5)(B)(i). See Brief for Respondents 17-23. But there is no significant difference between the language in this provision and the pre-emption provision in § 514(a), and we are unconvinced that a stricter standard of pre-emption should apply to state tax provisions than to other state laws.
12 See, e. g., Alessi v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., 451 U. S., at 524-525 ("Whatever the purpose or purposes of the New Jersey statute, we conclude that it 'relate[s] to pension plans' governed by ERISA because it eliminates one method for calculating pension benefits—integration—that is permitted by federal law").
13 See, e. g., Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U. S. 85 (1983) (ERISA pre-empted state law requiring the provision of pregnancy benefits); Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U. S. 724 (1985) (law that required benefit plans to include minimum mental health benefits "related to" ERISA plans).
14 See, e. g., Ingersoll-Rand Co., 498 U. S., at 139-140 ("We are not dealing here with a generally applicable statute that makes no reference to, or indeed functions irrespective of, the existence of an ERISA plan. . . . Here, the existence of a pension plan is a critical factor in establishing liability under the State's wrongful discharge law. As a result, this cause of action relates not merely to pension benefits, but to the essence of the pension plan itself").
15 See Mackey, 486 U. S., at 828-830 (a provision that explicitly refers to ERISA in defining the scope of the state law's application is pre-empted); Greater Washington Bd. of Trade, 506 U. S., at 130-131 ("Section 2(c)(2) of the District's Equity Amendment Act specifically refers to welfare benefit plans regulated by ERISA and on that basis alone is pre-empted").
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