Johnny comes home after Sarkozy's French poll win

PARIS, May 8 (Reuters) With Nicolas in the Elysee Palace, Johnny can now come home.

Ageing French rocker Johnny Hallyday is preparing to pack his bags and quit his Swiss chalet for France following Sunday's presidential election win by long-time fan Nicolas Sarkozy, the star's wife said today.

Hallyday, 63, one of France's biggest entertainers and a high-profile supporter of the incoming head of state, caused controversy last December when he announced he was moving across the Alps to escape a wealth tax.

Sarkozy has been a big fan of Hallyday since his teens and ''the French Elvis'' was at the right-winger's campaign headquarters on Sunday when Sarkozy's victory was announced.

Hallyday's young wife Laeticia said Sarkozy's promise to cap taxes at 50 per cent of earned income, the so-called ''tax shield'', meant the couple would now return to France.

''The policies of Nicolas Sarkozy means that we will certainly return to France,'' she told RTL radio.

''Taxes in France are unacceptable. It's not possible to work for the state three-quarters of the year. We love France and we love France,'' she said, adding she had discussed the matter with Sarkozy, who assumes office on May 16.

''Nicolas wants to bring the tax shield to 50 per cent, which means working for the state half the year, not three quarters of the year,'' she said.

The conservative government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin set the current tax ceiling at 60 per cent of earnings.

Hallyday, born Jean-Philippe Smet, has to spend six months and one day in the Swiss Alpine resort of Gstaad to avoid French taxes that include a wealth tax on capital of more than 750,000 euros ($1 million).

Sarkozy has pledged to introduce a 15 billion dollars euro package of tax cuts should elections in June hand him a workable majority in parliament.

REUTERS PS RK2031