There's a huge Physical range shortage in PF and Statics

[CKNovel]

In regards to the mobility tax, I remember most fights during savage and prog, I was stacked with the group, unmoving. If you were too far away you'd miss healing, and there were only a handful of mechanics I remember that you could actually bait to make the phys ranged jobs actually feel like they were there for a reason.

I do think the mobility tax is too high. I agree that there should be some tax, but not to the extent it currently is. Also SMN is the most mobile caster but does much more damage than p ranged, and is either equal to or better than RDM at this point. So they aren't even all that consistent when it comes to the mobility tax.

You never disconnect from a boss for more than 10 GCDs, 15 if you're playing extremely safe.
Ranged should be balanced around that, not around players that greed and gets weakness debuffs.

SMN not only has insane mobility, but also has control over its casting phase.
I don't want to throw difficulty into the equation, but its rotation is quite forgiving and on rail. You can hardly make a mistake that results in a big dps loss.