Supported by both sides in congress. Democrats and republicans. To hike the federal gas tax by as i said, more than 65 . Thats right. With conflict in iraq pushing Oil Prices Higher and gas prices near record highs for this time of year, Congress Wants to squeeze you a little more. Remember the gas tax is one of the biggest consumer taxes with more on this, diana with the manhattan institute. David nelson and senator john hogan from north dakota to join us. I will start with you, diane, what do you make of the tax . Is it a good idea . Well, its better than the alternative which is letting the Highway Trust Fund run out of money and stop spending on infrastructure july 31. It would be better to have a tax on vehicle miles driven. Better to divulge the trust fund to the states and let them raise taxes. Doesnt look Like Congress is going to do either of those things. We have to have mechanism so drivers can pay for the roads that you want. Gerri david, do you agree . I do, we havent raised the tax since 1993, over 20 years. The Highway Trust Fund is close to insolvent at this point. A couple of other ideas floated for one time windfall. One is to have a tax holiday, that would be great. Do it all. We need to do something and we need to do it now. David senator john hogan is joining us now. Senator, tell us what is your view on the tax. It has bipartisan support. You are not a supporter, why . Well, i just dont think there is support in the congress or really with the public right now to raise the gas tax. We need a highway bill. We need to cover the shortfall in the trust fund. Its more likely you are going to see Something Like a change in the tax rate on dollars are repatriated back to United States earnings that are parked overseas and also i think we could do a lot more with developing energy on federal lands with onshore and off, that would create revenue as well. Gerri i got to tell you, i hear the fact that the bridges are in bad shape, the road are in bad shape, not like were paying only federal gas taxes. There are states sales taxes, take a look at the tax numbers. New york 50 cents a gallon. California, 48 cents a gallon. Im feeling overloaded. Why are you going to put another 65 cent gallon tax on top of that . The senators proposal to use the tax holiday for infrastructure, i think is not a good one. Drivers should pay for roads with the taxes that they pay on gas, and i agree we should have a tax holiday. We should have a permanent tax holiday on the Corporate Income tax and eliminate it and make it territorial so a lot more funds come back to the United States. Gerri lets focus efforts on the gas tax. David, to you . I mentioned the other taxes, what do you have to say about the state taxes . All kinds of taxes . A lot of bad taxes, gerri, this should be put into effect, and should also be indexed for inflation, this will go up over time. Yeah, nobody likes to pay taxes and nobody likes to build the roads, this is one of the things we need to do. I agree with the senator, not likely to pass, everybody is shook up in the Republican Party by the eric cantor not being elected. Everybody is pulling back, playing it safe and playing the prevent defense and its not going to happen in the midterms. Gerri senator, to you, that was the thing about this proposal that set me off, this idea were going to index it to inflation. Lets face it, gas taxes are one of the most volatile elements of the Consumer Price index. To me, thats like putting an incredible lever on the economy. Prices go up, they go up more and gas prices are an input into almost anything in the economy, whether you are manufacturing goods, it hits consumers right in the wallet every single day. Is it a particularly pernicious idea to index gas taxes to inflation . I think it is a concern, and you are going to have to have public support. I dont think the public support is there for a gas tax, and this issue of tying the revenue, you know, with the cost of maintaining the roads and repairing them, thats why i say, lets expand Energy Development on public lands, and get more revenue onshore and off. Now youre tying the source of the revenue, Energy Development, to maintaining our roads and infrastructure, so theres the correlation that one of your Panel Members mentioned. Gerri very interesting. I might be willing to raise gas taxes if i could be guaranteed the money would be spent for roads and bridges. We know thats not true. Listen to the gao report. Four agencies within the department of transportation obligated 78 billion dollars in moneys for purposes other than construction and maintenance of highways and bridges. You know, this is one of those things that doesnt work well. You give the money more money, they spend it, diane . Absolutely true. So many things attached to the Highway Trust Fund. The money goes uncle sam and back to the state. Uncle sam says the states have to pay 15 on mass transit. Project labor agreements which raise the price of labor, they have to use certain amounts on other things. At least when they get back they should use it on the roads. It makes the implementation of it and the tax dollars go a lot further. Gerri its not done, senator, should we do it . You say its not likely we will, but do you agree with the panel that its the right thing to do to raise gas taxes, 65 . Im just not a fan of higher taxes. You can reform taxes, make them fairer and broader and get revenue from economic growth, and i think thats the better way to go. Not a fan of raising faxes. Weve got to get something done here, and im talking about something they think can get through the congress. Gerri well, do you have a solution at hand . Other than oil on public land . I think that and the repatriation, there is growing support for repatriation and reducing the rate on earnings that are parked overseas, bringing the earnings back and that would help us fund a very good infrastructure bill for the next five years. Enable us to fund a lot of different projects and definitely should be done. I agree with the panel, thats only a onetime hit. We take the one time windfall in, what are you going to do as the years roll on . We need a graduated tax. Gerri go ahead, senator. Thats why you bring in the second piece i was describing. Again the revenues come from a growing economy, not higher taxes. Gerri one more point before we go, a fox news poll showed that the biggest concern people have about paying taxes, the way the government spends our money, 35 . Were all just a little concerned about that, senator, diana, david, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Gerri fighting the irs may have gotten harder. Fox businesses senior washington correspondent peter barnes joins me with details from Todays Supreme Court ruling. Peter . The Supreme Court raised the bar for taxpayers who want to challenge a summons from the irs in court. The issue here is when does a taxpayer have a right to question the irs and irs agents about their reasons for issuing a summons when they want to gather more information in a tax dispute . The court ruled today that taxpayers cannot just make allegations about the agencys motivations, rather the court said that taxpayers must cite specific facts or circumstances that, quote, plausibly supports suspected bad faith on the part of the agency. It said quote, naked allegations of improper purpose are not enough. The taxpayer must offer some credible evidence supporting his charge. Now this case was about a florida man, michael clark, who accused the irs of issuing a summons against him and Business Partners for resisting audit. They alleged harassment by the irs when they did not agree to a third extension of an audit. They already agreed to two extensions, they just didnt agree to a third one when the thing was dragging out. Clark and partners wanted to question irs agents about the motives. The District Court denied request saying charge of harassment was conjecture and they had no evidence to support the charge. So it issued, allowed the summons to be enforced. Federal Appeals Court overruled that, overturned that, but the High Court Today siding with the District Courts, gerri. Gerri peter, do you think this is reasonable . Or negative for taxpayers . It reinforces the right of taxpayers to challenge the summons, and at a minimum, perhaps the Silver Lining here is that the courts ruling, the high courts ruling will give taxpayers a better road map for challenging a summons from the irs, and could make it harder for the irs to get a summons because typically judges rubber stamp these requests for the irs, the court orders to enforce a summons, but the high court said, listen, the lower courts have to have after evidentiary hearing when the irs asks it for a summons, and said that taxpayers can actually use circumstantial evidence when they go into challenge a summons because it said quote, after all, direct evidence of another persons bad faith will rarely if ever be available early in a tax case. So its a road map that may allow more taxpayers to challenge the irs, thats the thats what the defendants attorneys argue. Gerri is there any next steps, whats the takeaway for taxpayers . This court, the District Court level, clark and his partners, the court, the case never proceeded because of question about the summons, now all the way back up to the Supreme Court, which sent it back down to the lower court. So that court case will proceed. Well watch it to see if they win or lose. Gerri were cheering for the taxpayer, peter. Thanks for that. Thanks. Gerri still a lot more to come this hour, including your voice. During the show, facebook me or tweet me at gerri willis fbn. Do you like a 65 increase in the federal gas tax . At the bottom of the hour ill read your comment. Coming up, whats your go to grocery store, Consumer Reports shares the best Grocery Stores ranked by you. When folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. [ male announcer ] the mercedeis here. Ummer event now get the unmistakable thrill. And the incredible rush. Of the mercedesbenz youve always wanted. But you better get here fast. [ daughter ] yay, daddys here here you go, honey. Thank you. [ male announcer ]. Because a good thing like this. Phew [ male announcer ]. Wont last forever. See your authorized dealer for an incredible offer on the exhilarating c250 sport sedan. But hurry, offers end soon. Share your summer moments in your mercedesbenz with us. Im jeff and i have copd. Im lisa and i have copd, but i dont want my breathing problems to get in the way of hosting my book club. Thats why i asked my doctor about breo. Oncedaily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. And breo helps reduce symptom flareups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. Breo is not for asthma. Breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. It is not known if this risk is increased in copd. Breo wont replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. Breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking breo. Ask your doctor about breo for copd. First prescription free at mybreo. Com. Gerri welcome back. Do you have a favorite supermarket . I bet you do i know i do hear what the list from the readers of Consumer Report todd marks is going to tell us who the best Grocery Stores are in the survey. Tell us what you found in the survey . The interesting thing with the survey, we surveyed hundreds of thousands of customers about their experience. We rated 55 chains on the hours, cleanliness, competitive prices, freshness of the food, service. Only six chains out of 55 earned exemplary marks for quality of its perishables. The vegetables, the fruit, the meat, the poultry, its astounding tell us who the winners were . Who were the best scorers . Interested in food and food alone, the top six were whole foods with most of us are familiar with them. They have 370 stores nationwide. Great stores except for price. If youre paying the high gas tax, you have to watch pennies at supermarket. Whole foods had one of the worst pricing hierarchies of any chain in the survey. Gerri wegmans is an important chain. Mostly in the east, a lot in new york. Only about 83 stores, but they are the top supermarket overall in the country. The model of excellence in terms of everything they do. Now a newcomer made our list called sprouts farmers market, theyre in the west. They have about 160 stores. Exemplary scores for service, price, cleanliness, and if youre into produce, sprouts stood head and shoulders at the top. And publix, another perennial powerhouse in the south, over 1,000 stores. If you have a chance to shop at a publix, take it. They are at or near the top for years. Gerri they also have rallies . They are on the west coast, too. At the top of the ratings in terms of the perishables, service, and prices are soso. But tremendous, and costco. Everpresent costco, people like to make fun of them. We make jokes about them. They score well in almost everything we rate them on. They had exceptional quality of perishables. People think of them as the big five pound of tuna fish and the giant jug of mayonnaise, if youre looking for fruits and vegetables, you cant beat them and prices are superb. Gerri fantastic list, interesting to see what people like. I have to tell you, when i say this is my Favorite Grocery store, i have problems with them. Why is it so hard to find the best, the Perfect Store . The Perfect Store really is elusive, shall we say. Stores that offer exemplary quality, high service, and great quality. It costs money invariably, they have an extreme position. On the other hand, chains that tend to have a great price structure tend to not be so good when it comes to the quality of meat, fish, seafood. A delicate balance. You look at a store like wegmans and publix, publix is soso with prices and look at costco, it really is very good. Whole foods was the only exception to the rule, where you had superb quality, but horrible prices. So were getting closer. Getting closer. Gerri i know a lot of people call that whole paycheck, not whole foods. Thats the reality of that. What do people think is more important . People are focused on quality or prices right now is. Depends on the shopper you are. Price is important, and quality is, too. New markets specializing in natural, organic and whole foods and wholetype grains is really up the bar in performance. We see a lot of fresh markets coming to the landscape which is a winwin for consumers, were getting away from the awful packaged goods that we shouldnt be eating for the most part and moving toward a fresh model, when have you good chains upping their game and coming onto the market at such a high level, it forces other players to either up their own game or perish, its good for everybody. Gerri and a final quick question here, a lot of Grocery Stores are putting in almost a restaurant. Is this the way to boost margins in an industry that historically had narrow margins . Eating out is no longer a treat. Part and parcel of lifestyle. Restaurants want to get their share of stomach, and instead of having people go to places like red lobster and olive garden, the casual restaurants which are not doing well, and as a tradeup from fast food which is doing well. Come to us. We will give you tremendous quality at restaurant quality food at supermarket prices and people are paying attention to that. Gerri todd, one of the smartest people i know on Grocery Stores, thanks for coming in. Take care. Gerri you as well. We want to know what you think . Are you loyal . Are you loyal to your Supermarket Chain . Log onto gerri willis. Com, ill share the results at the end of tonights show. More to come, how the tsa is trying to sneak in more fees into next airline ticket. And next, kids arent off the hook for parents debt. We answer the question, how do you deal with krt creditors who are knock on your parents door when your parents die . Stay with us. mother vo when i was pregnant. I got lots of advice, but i needed information i could trust. Unitedhealthcares innovative, Simple Program helps moms stay on track with their doctors to get the right care and guidance. anncr vo thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. Gerri well, the death of a parent is a traumatic and stressful time for anyone, and learning that your mom and dad might have left behind a debt adds more stress to the situation. Is it possible to inherit your deceased parents debts . Joining me personal finance expert, vera gibbons. Welcome to the show. The big question first. Might i be responsible for my parents debt . The short answer is generally speaking no. You are not personally liable for the debts. Good question, because a lot of parents leave the Adult Children with all sorts of problem, and Adult Children think they are responsible but in many