There is no way you can EXCLUDE contacts by tags, or any other selector, or as individuals from within a smart list, without deleting them entirely from the CRM. Every CRM I've worked with, even 10+ years ago, allows you to create entire lists that you exclude or by clicking on individuals (eg people who've already registered for an event, or already in the provess of buying and you don't want them to get a promo). I spent an hour with someone at GHL and no answer. It's set up for inclusion, but not for EXCLUSION. Also once you have your smart list, or several, you can't merge several, dedupe and exclude. Again this is so basic and the tech has been avsilable for over 15 years, I'm stumped.