Answer: not at this time, as it is hard coded in the source.
archive-tar.c:
static void prepare_header(struct archiver_args *args,
struct ustar_header *header,
unsigned int mode, unsigned long size)
{
xsnprintf(header->mode, sizeof(header->mode), "%07o", mode & 07777);
xsnprintf(header->size, sizeof(header->size), "%011"PRIoMAX , S_ISREG(mode) ? (uintmax_t)size : (uintmax_t)0);
xsnprintf(header->mtime, sizeof(header->mtime), "%011lo", (unsigned long) args->time); xsnprintf(header->uid, sizeof(header->uid), "%07o", 0);
xsnprintf(header->gid, sizeof(header->gid), "%07o", 0);
strlcpy(header->uname, "root", sizeof(header->uname));
strlcpy(header->gname, "root", sizeof(header->gname));meh.