Japan finance minister Aso: Government gained public trust for tax hike with election win

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that the government won voters' confidence in a planned sales tax hike in October through Sunday's upper house election.

Aso told reporters after a cabinet meeting that the election gave the ruling coalition a stable political footing by giving it a solid majority in the upper house.

"I believe we won public trust for the sales tax hike," Aso said.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)