I agree with you on the absolute beauty of e^{i\pi}+1=0, but I think I would also see a different beauty in e^{ik\pi}=1 for all integer k (if we had \pi=6.28... instead)
I would argue that #2 is better with tau; yes there's a factor of 1/2, but it should be there for the same reason that kinetic energy is 1/2mv*2 and distance traveled under constant acceleration is 1/2at*2. All of those are the result of integrating a linear function.