The Diet on Tuesday passed a bill to keep certain tax revenues earmarked for road building for 10 years from this fiscal year through a revote by the ruling parties in the House of Representatives, overriding the rejection of the bill by the opposition-controlled upper house and putting an end to the protracted road tax row with the opposition camp.

Prior to the vote, however, the cabinet endorsed a policy that stipulates the end of specifying the use of road-related tax revenues from fiscal 2009 to show that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s earlier proposal to free up the revenues for general expenditures stands firm. The revote, held during a lower house plenary session, came after the opposition-controlled House of Councillors rejected the bill on Monday. The bill first passed the lower house on March 13.