What about flipping the carrier's mount to the outside, where your tire would mount between the bracket and the vehicle? That would be handy... It would put the tire closer to the vehicle, you could mount your license plate to the bracket, potentially running wires through the tube, maybe connect to trailer harness? If it was a swing down, it'd be easy on/off for the tire. Hmm....
Edit: Also, you probably wouldn't have to deal with a funky bend-around-the-bumper to put the tire closer to the rear...