AbstractIt is shown, that the increasing dielectric tail found recently for decreasing impurity concentrationNiin the incommensurate system K2ZnCl4does notindicate the existence of an intrinsic chaotic state. Using a simple model for the pinning of solitons by impurities (but more realistic than those used previously in this context) it is shown, that the dielectric tails grow with growing soliton densitynsbut with droppingNi. The precise dependence onNidepends on the pinning mechanism (i.e. weak or strong pinning).