:doh:
I meant is_tagged not is-iff. The is-iff SEXP works. The is_tagged SEXP had code that looked like it would work but didn't. (Never was sure why it didn't.) I replaced it with a call to the function that the HUD uses to tell if a ship is currently tagged to determine what color target box it should draw. (Which means is_tagged isn't redundent, it works differently from has-been-tagged-delay which returns true once a ship has been tagged and continues to return true after. In contrast, is_tagged will return false when the tag wears off.)
PS That underscore isn't a typo. The is_tagged SEXP is the only one with an underscore rather then a dash, which leads me to believe it's an older SEXP that they forgot about or just didn't care enough about to keep current. (They never used it or has-been-tagged-delay in the

missions.)