diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli.ts
index 5aaedcc7e5759..4533125708409 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import { data, debug, error, print, setLogLevel, setCI } from '../lib/logging';
 import { displayNotices, refreshNotices } from '../lib/notices';
 import { Command, Configuration, Settings } from '../lib/settings';
 import * as version from '../lib/version';
-import { validateTags } from './util/tags';
 
 // https://github.com/yargs/yargs/issues/1929
 // https://github.com/evanw/esbuild/issues/1492
@@ -435,7 +434,7 @@ async function initCommandLine() {
           force: argv.force,
           toolkitStackName: toolkitStackName,
           execute: args.execute,
-          tags: validateTags(configuration.settings.get(['tags'])),
+          tags: configuration.settings.get(['tags']),
           terminationProtection: args.terminationProtection,
           parameters: {
             bucketName: configuration.settings.get(['toolkitBucket', 'bucketName']),
@@ -465,7 +464,7 @@ async function initCommandLine() {
           notificationArns: args.notificationArns,
           requireApproval: configuration.settings.get(['requireApproval']),
           reuseAssets: args['build-exclude'],
-          tags: validateTags(configuration.settings.get(['tags'])),
+          tags: configuration.settings.get(['tags']),
           execute: args.execute,
           changeSetName: args.changeSetName,
           force: args.force,
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/tags.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/tags.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 75d3277aff00f..0000000000000
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/tags.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-import { Tag } from '../cdk-toolkit';
-
-/**
- * Throws an error if tags is neither undefined nor an array of Tags,
- * as defined in cdk-toolkit.ts.
- *
- * It does not attempt to validate the tags themselves. It only validates
- * that the objects in the array conform to the Tags interface.
- */
-export function validateTags(tags: any): Tag[] | undefined {
-  const valid = tags === undefined || (
-    Array.isArray(tags) &&
-    tags.every(t => typeof(t.Tag) === 'string' && typeof(t.Value) === 'string')
-  );
-  if (valid) {
-    return tags;
-  } else {
-    throw new Error('tags must be an array of { Tag: string, Value: string } objects');
-  }
-}
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/tags.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/tags.test.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 9789eb449300d..0000000000000
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/tags.test.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-import { validateTags } from '../../lib/util/tags';
-
-test('validateTags does not throw when given undefined', () => {
-  expect(validateTags(undefined)).toBeUndefined();
-});
-
-test('validateTags does not throw when given an empty array', () => {
-  const tags: any = [];
-  expect(validateTags(tags)).toBe(tags);
-});
-
-test('validateTags does not throw when given array of Tag objects', () => {
-  const tags: any = [{ Tag: 'a', Value: 'b' }];
-  expect(validateTags(tags)).toBe(tags);
-});
-
-test('validateTags throws when given an object', () => {
-  expect(() => validateTags({ a: 'b' })).toThrow('tags must be');
-});
-
-test('validateTags throws when given an array of non-Tag objects', () => {
-  expect(() => validateTags([{ a: 'b' }])).toThrow('tags must be');
-});
-
-test('validateTags throws when Tag is not a string', () => {
-  expect(() => validateTags([{ Tag: null, Value: 'b' }])).toThrow();
-});
-
-test('validateTags throws when Value is not a string', () => {
-  expect(() => validateTags([{ Tag: 'a', Value: null }])).toThrow();
-});