Hieringer and Gorling [W. Hieringer, A. Gorling, Chem. Phys. Lett. 419 (2006) 557] have identified failures of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) with standard spatially local functionals for symmetric systems with non-overlapping entities where zero net charge-transfer occurs. We clarify that this particular failure is a direct consequence of the general problem of charge-transfer nevertheless, in the special case of an exact degeneracy. The role of exact and accidental degeneracies in large systems treated by present-day TDDFT is briefly discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.