Yes, operationally tags are refs, just like branches (Even though the mental model people use for branches is different than tags https://blog.plover.com/prog/

Yes, operationally tags are refs, just like branches (Even though the mental model people use for branches is different than tags https://blog.plover.com/prog/git/branches.html https://blog.plover.com/prog/git/branches.html because when you make a commit when HEAD points to a branch, it updates the branch to point to the new commit, which doesn't happen with tags)