diff --git a/emacs/notmuch-tag.el b/emacs/notmuch-tag.el
index 536315e9..145f309f 100644
--- a/emacs/notmuch-tag.el
+++ b/emacs/notmuch-tag.el
@@ -429,17 +429,9 @@ initial input in the minibuffer."
 	    (set-keymap-parent map crm-local-completion-map)
 	    (define-key map " " 'self-insert-command)
 	    map)))
-    (delete "" (completing-read-multiple
-		prompt
-		;; Append the separator to each completion so when the
-		;; user completes a tag they can immediately begin
-		;; entering another.  `completing-read-multiple'
-		;; ultimately splits the input on crm-separator, so we
-		;; don't need to strip this back off (we just need to
-		;; delete "empty" entries caused by trailing spaces).
-		(mapcar (lambda (tag-op) (concat tag-op crm-separator)) tag-list)
-		nil nil initial-input
-		'notmuch-read-tag-changes-history))))
+    (completing-read-multiple prompt tag-list
+			      nil nil initial-input
+			      'notmuch-read-tag-changes-history)))
 
 ;;; Tagging