In 2015, the UN adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This was a sign of change, making the upholding of human rights one of the core issues of sustainable development and pointing to taxes and other forms of revenue collection as a means of achieving these goals. A similar reassessment of the role of tax law can be found in the Joint Declaration on the New European Consensus on Development presented in 2017 by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. The document also marks an important shift in the way the EU institutions frame the role of tax law and also more general public financing within the EU framework.

The aim of this research is to examine, in the light of the Lisbon Treaty and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, how the transition from the MG to the SDGs affects policy; to analyze how the SDGs shape the role of tax law in achieving sustainable development: to reflect on how the SDGs affect the rights of minors, and remaining gender issues as reflected in the different tax systems; to identify which tax measures could have a more positive impact in different problem areas and better support sustainable development models; to propose practical guidelines on how the EU should amend or implement regulations in this regard and to better achieve the SDGs.