SIOUX CITY -- Americans in late 2010 will be gathering in hospital rooms, debating whether to pull the plug on family members, out of fear the family could pay large sums of money in estate taxes in 2011, Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King said on Monday.

King, a four-term Republican, said Americans will be making end-of-life decisions based not on morality, but financial necessity with the pending return of estate taxes on Jan. 1, 2011.

"They will be sitting together beside a hospital bed making a decision on whether to plug in on life support or unplug the life support from a loved one, and it will be a financial decision coupled with that profound decision on life that has to be made at that point," King said.

There is presently no estate tax, often called a death tax by Republicans. Absent any congressional changes, after Jan. 1 people who die with estates worth $1 million or more will pay a roughly 55 percent tax.

Further, King told the 80 people at Western Iowa Tech Community College town hall meeting that he knows a person with an acquaintance who has booked a December 2010 one-way trip to Switzerland.