WELP CRAP NUGGETS
apprantly lily ONLY MANTAINERS CAN ADD TAGS :/
Per the guide i found ~
By default, community maintainers can create new tags for the community and community members can add tags to entries; community maintainers must add new tags to entries before members can see or use them for entries. Maintainers can change community tag settings at the Manage Tags page. Community tag permissions can be granted to everyone, members only, a custom Friends group, or maintainers only. You can also allow entry authors to use existing tags, while allowing maintainers to create new tags, with the "Entry's author, maintainers and moderators" setting.
Tags not used on any entry will be private, and only maintainers can see them until they are applied to an entry. If you post an entry with new tags, but do not have permission to create new tags or add existing tags, those tags will be removed from your entry.
Credit to the LJ help section for this info~