The paper investigates the role of taxation in the light of the evolution from the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the current European tax law and development landscape and in connection to the New European Consensus on Development. Paying specific attention to the gender and human rights implications of tax systems in the achievement of the SDGs, the paper identifies those EU tax law or public finance measures that have the larger impact on the SDGs problem space and provides an initial framing for discussing how EU and EU Member states might proceed to amend, or implement where necessary, opportune and considerate measures to best support the goals.