why does my empty cart show a price?!

[dwt55305]

VM 2.0.10
J2.5
hotjoomla template installation
url: ftavg.adtwelve.com

When I place an item in the cart, it all seems to work fine. But if I remove the item, the cart doesn't empty; rather a tax amount and a price remain in the cart, even though there is no longer any item there. And worse, if I add another item, the bogus price adds on!

Specifically, the cart shows no item but a price of $53.50. Also, the cart adds CA sales tax by default, unless I edit the billing address to outside CA.

If I close my browser, thus clearing the browser cache, I can start over again with a clean slate cart, but it will do it again. Happens logged in or not.

Is there a fix for this? Is this something anyone else is experiencing? Need help asap, my client needs her store UP NOW.

Thanks in advance for any light to shed here.

David Thompson