diff --git a/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsCollapsible.jsx b/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsCollapsible.jsx
index 2e93c1082a..e05b8f1396 100644
--- a/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsCollapsible.jsx
+++ b/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsCollapsible.jsx
@@ -178,16 +178,13 @@ const ContentTagsCollapsible = ({ contentId, taxonomyAndTagsData, editable }) =>
     id, name, contentTags,
   } = taxonomyAndTagsData;
 
-  // State to determine whether to update the backend or not
+  // State to determine whether the tags are being updating so we can make a call
+  // to the update endpoint to the reflect those changes
   const [updatingTags, setUpdatingTags] = React.useState(false);
   const mutation = useContentTaxonomyTagsMutation(contentId, id);
 
   const [isOpen, open, close] = useToggle(false);
-  const [target, setTarget] = React.useState(null);
-
-  // Keeps track of the tree structure for the applied content tags passed
-  // in as a prop.
-  const [appliedContentTags, setAppliedContentTags] = React.useState({});
+  const [addTagsButtonRef, setAddTagsButtonRef] = React.useState(null);
 
   // Keeps track of the tree structure for tags that are add by selecting/unselecting
   // tags in the dropdowns.
@@ -196,10 +193,10 @@ const ContentTagsCollapsible = ({ contentId, taxonomyAndTagsData, editable }) =>
   // To handle checking/unchecking tags in the SelectableBox
   const [checkedTags, { add, remove, clear }] = useCheckboxSetValues();
 
-  // Handles make requests to the backend whenever the checked tags change
+  // Handles making requests to the update endpoint whenever the checked tags change
   React.useEffect(() => {
-    // We have this check because this hook is fired when the component first load
-    // and reloads (on refocus). We only want to make requests to the backend when
+    // We have this check because this hook is fired when the component first loads
+    // and reloads (on refocus). We only want to make a request to the update endpoint when
     // the user is updating the tags.
     if (updatingTags) {
       setUpdatingTags(false);
@@ -209,7 +206,7 @@ const ContentTagsCollapsible = ({ contentId, taxonomyAndTagsData, editable }) =>
   }, [contentId, id, checkedTags]);
 
   // This converts the contentTags prop to the tree structure mentioned above
-  React.useMemo(() => {
+  const appliedContentTags = React.useMemo(() => {
     // Clear all the tags that have not been commited and the checked boxes when
     // fresh contentTags passed in so the latest state from the backend is rendered
     setAddedContentTags({});
@@ -243,8 +240,9 @@ const ContentTagsCollapsible = ({ contentId, taxonomyAndTagsData, editable }) =>
       });
     });
 
-    setAppliedContentTags(resultTree);
-  }, [contentTags, setAddedContentTags, mutation.isError]);
+    // setAppliedContentTags(resultTree);
+    return resultTree;
+  }, [contentTags, mutation.isError]);
 
   // This is the source of truth that represents the current state of tags in
   // this Taxonomy as a tree. Whenever either the `appliedContentTags` (i.e. tags passed in
@@ -315,7 +313,7 @@ const ContentTagsCollapsible = ({ contentId, taxonomyAndTagsData, editable }) =>
 
           {editable && (
             <Button
-              ref={setTarget}
+              ref={setAddTagsButtonRef}
               variant="outline-primary"
               onClick={open}
             >
@@ -325,7 +323,7 @@ const ContentTagsCollapsible = ({ contentId, taxonomyAndTagsData, editable }) =>
         </div>
         <ModalPopup
           placement="bottom"
-          positionRef={target}
+          positionRef={addTagsButtonRef}
           isOpen={isOpen}
           onClose={close}
         >
diff --git a/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsDropDownSelector.jsx b/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsDropDownSelector.jsx
index c26edc1aef..bde6d5e968 100644
--- a/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsDropDownSelector.jsx
+++ b/src/content-tags-drawer/ContentTagsDropDownSelector.jsx
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ const ContentTagsDropDownSelector = ({
   // however if it is null that means it is the root, and the apiHooks
   // would automatically handle it. Later this url is set to the next
   // page of results (if any)
+  //
+  // TODO: In the future we may need to refactor this to keep track
+  // of the count for how many times the user clicked on "load more" then
+  // use useQueries to load all the pages based on that.
   const [fetchUrl, setFetchUrl] = useState(subTagsUrl);
 
   const isOpen = (i) => dropdownStates[i];
diff --git a/src/content-tags-drawer/TagBubble.jsx b/src/content-tags-drawer/TagBubble.jsx
index c4cefee60e..faca941254 100644
--- a/src/content-tags-drawer/TagBubble.jsx
+++ b/src/content-tags-drawer/TagBubble.jsx
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ const TagBubble = ({
     if (!implicit && editable) {
       removeTagHandler(lineage.join(','), false);
     }
-  }, [implicit, lineage]);
+  }, [implicit, lineage, editable, removeTagHandler]);
 
   return (
     <div style={{ paddingLeft: `${level * 1}rem` }}>