Hey Gene,
I want to confirm the screen we are talking about. So from what I understand you open the Add / Edit Work Order screen and select "New Work Order..." button.
This loads the screen for adding a WO, you fill in some information and once you are done you click save.
At this point you can see the column total for "Amount", this is strictly just a total of all the values in the “Amount” column, it does not represent a total with sales tax.
If you are not talking about the Amount column total, please specify if you have made an customization to this screen. By default this screen has no Total/Total Tax/Balance fields like the Invoice and Estimate screens do.