South Carolina’s system of issuing license tags to car dealers is full of holes that let some people avoid paying property taxes on vehicles.

The white tags, starting with XX or XP, are supposed to be used only by dealers, wholesalers and their employees. Dealers can let customers considering a purchase use them up to seven days.

But the state Department of Motor Vehicles often relies on the applicant’s word that the applicant owns and operates a dealership when sending out the special tags. Dealers using these tags don’t have to pay county property taxes on the cars.

Local officials often don’t even know how many dealer tags have been issued in their counties.

In a high-profile case in June, the State Law Enforcement Division charged J.T. Gandolfo, owner of Dodgeland of Columbia and a former adviser to Gov. Mark Sanford on overhauling DMV operations, with tag abuse. Gandolfo had loaned Sanford’s spokesman, Will Folks, a red Corvette for more than a week.

Gandolfo turned in the tag and paid a $625 fine.

When dealers apply for a special tag, they tell the DMV how many cars they expect to sell in their first year. A DMV agent visits the site to make sure there is a lot and a sign that meets the minimum size requirements. But that’s no guarantee that everything is in order.

Once a dealer has a tag, the dealer’s sales figures are audited about once every three years, said John Caldwell, the DMV dealer licensing director. Caldwell said it isn’t done more frequently because there are only about 17 employees overseeing 5,000 dealerships and wholesalers.

That means a startup dealership could get its license renewed twice before anyone verified it had sold a car.