tar is an essential package, like many others. If for instance you uninstall
dpkg or the kernel you will also have some problems to re-install it.
The warning apt is giving you is quite self-explanatory:
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you
** Changed in: tar (Ubuntu)
Sourcepackagename: None => tar
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You can uninstall tar, but you can't reinstall it without tar.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/219324
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