In the case of Barbara A. De Buono, New York Commissioner of Health, et al. v. NYSA-ILA Medical and Clinical Services Fund, ETC., et al., 1996, the U.S Supreme Court addressed whether a state tax on employee benefit funds violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The court ruled that ERISA did not preempt New York's gross receipts tax on health care providers because it was not related to an ERISA plan but rather was a general tax law applicable to all healthcare providers in the state regardless of their connection with such plans. Therefore, states could impose taxes on entities providing services for employer-sponsored health insurance plans without violating federal laws designed to protect those plans.

In the dissenting opinion for Barbara A. De Buono, New York Commissioner of Health, et al. v NYSA-ILA Medical and Clinical Services Fund, ETC., et al., Justice Scalia disagreed with the majority's interpretation of ERISA preemption clause. He argued that it was not intended to preempt state taxes which have an indirect effect on employee benefit plans but are not specifically directed at them. In his view, a tax is only preempted if it directly regulates or refers to such plans - something he did not believe was true in this case where New York imposed a general gross receipts tax on all healthcare providers including those serving ERISA plans beneficiaries. Therefore, he concluded that there should be no federal jurisdiction over this dispute as the state law does not "relate to" any employee benefit plan within meaning of ERISA's preemption provision.