The hood latch tab for my civic won't pull the wire to open the hood, I need to get a pair of pliers to grab onto the wire that's right behind the tab that connects the hood latch to the tab and pull on it to open the hood. Any ideas on how to get the actual tab to work again?

 

The tab is, as you mentioned, connected to the cable- it's not your problem. There are a few options I know of from personal experience, there may be others.

The cable has stretched or become damaged, and you won't be able to adjust anything to the point it will work - the cable will need replaced.
The clips that hold the cable under the fender and up front have broken, allowing enough play to keep the cable from fully actuating the latch to release the hood.
The hood is not correctly aligned to the latch, or some part of that mechanism is bent or damaged.

I am assuming that when you used the term "latch", you meant the lever inside the car. By latch, I mean the mechanism up front that holds the hood down.