Corrections and clarifications

• An article comparing how much British people pay in tax with similar earners around the world said that Germans pay a church tax of 8% or 9% depending on location, and a solidarity tax of 5.5% to pay for German reunification. These rates are correct but are applied as a percentage of income tax paid, not as a percentage of someone’s gross income. This has the effect of significantly reducing the amount of tax paid. German citizens can also renounce their membership of a religion and therefore not pay church tax (Tax on test: do we pay more than most?, 27 May, page 45).

• Our obituary of the actor Peter Sallis said that Michael Bates, a fellow cast member on the BBC TV series Last of the Summer Wine, died before the third series. Although Bates left the show before that series, he died two years later in 1978 (6 June, page 33).