The problem is that governments are never competent when it comes to IT, so any database linked to it will be insecure and expensive; then there come the privac

The problem is that governments are never competent when it comes to IT, so any database linked to it will be insecure and expensive; then there come the privacy implications - having a required identification means it can be used to track people more easily, especially if they then tie services into using it. Depending on the year and the stupidity of the government in question, it may even use RFID to allow individual movement patterns to be tracked.