simple datapack to add tags to mod not working

I'm working on a datapack for this mod that I had made some edits to add some tags to. For some reason, I'm able to put the json files into the jar file and they work fine. but as a datapack, only the added recipes are working. for some reason, I'm not able to get the tags to work unless i actually put the json files into the jar. anyone maybe know what's going on? this is on 1.20.1. lmk if i need to include anything else.