diff --git a/project.py b/project.py
index ab28f2c3..99419f61 100644
--- a/project.py
+++ b/project.py
@@ -1044,7 +1044,7 @@ class Project(object):
                        current_branch_only=None,
                        force_sync=False,
                        clone_bundle=True,
-                       tags=True,
+                       tags=None,
                        archive=False,
                        optimized_fetch=False,
                        retry_fetches=0,
@@ -1125,8 +1125,8 @@ class Project(object):
       elif self.manifest.default.sync_c:
         current_branch_only = True
 
-    if not self.sync_tags:
-      tags = False
+    if tags is None:
+      tags = self.sync_tags
 
     if self.clone_depth:
       depth = self.clone_depth
diff --git a/repo b/repo
index 4068b127..f17c8a6f 100755
--- a/repo
+++ b/repo
@@ -327,8 +327,11 @@ def InitParser(parser, gitc_init=False):
   group.add_option('--no-current-branch',
                    dest='current_branch_only', action='store_false',
                    help='fetch all manifest branches from server')
+  group.add_option('--tags',
+                   action='store_true',
+                   help='fetch tags in the manifest')
   group.add_option('--no-tags',
-                   dest='tags', default=True, action='store_false',
+                   dest='tags', action='store_false',
                    help="don't fetch tags in the manifest")
 
   # These are fundamentally different ways of structuring the checkout.
diff --git a/subcmds/sync.py b/subcmds/sync.py
index f06c61c5..e5280865 100644
--- a/subcmds/sync.py
+++ b/subcmds/sync.py
@@ -234,8 +234,11 @@ later is required to fix a server side protocol bug.
                  help='fetch submodules from server')
     p.add_option('--use-superproject', action='store_true',
                  help='use the manifest superproject to sync projects')
+    p.add_option('--tags',
+                 action='store_false',
+                 help='fetch tags')
     p.add_option('--no-tags',
-                 dest='tags', default=True, action='store_false',
+                 dest='tags', action='store_false',
                  help="don't fetch tags")
     p.add_option('--optimized-fetch',
                  dest='optimized_fetch', action='store_true',