Painting

remove the tank, cap, and petcocks.... wet sand the tank with with #400 wet/dry paper, clean thoroughly with wax/grease remover, then go at it with a rattle can of clear acrylic paint .does a very decent job on small areas such as tanks.
cost....$4 for paint, a couple for paper and cleaner, if you dont have it already

Thank you for the tip - please, bear with me - if I wet sand the tank - won't that remove the paint? Only the outer coating, which I presume is clear coat is flaking off. (looks and feels like plastic). Now that I think about it, it probably won't remove the paint because you didn't say anything about paint matching.

Duane,
go EASY on the sanding...just scuff it up lightly so the clear coat has something to grab onto.should be no problem unless the original color is a very thin coat.
you really don't have to remove the cap or petcocks ...just mask them off when ready to spray the clear on.

After 45 years of professional painting experience, I have one.
Go ahead and try one or more of the methods you will find here and be ready to pony up the cost of a professional refinishing job if and when it doesn't meet your easthetic appeal.
Go for it! Nothing ventured, nothing gained (or lost).

Lonnie

Or find a junk yard tank to try it on first. Every time I've tried to paint with rattle cans, I've been disappointed, but my brother replaced both front fenders, the hood, and the valance on his Chevy and painted the white replacements red to match the car and five years later you still can't tell where the factory paint ends and his can paint begins. It's all in the preparation and your patience.

I also owned a custom painting shop. I painted hundreds of custom bikes, stock bikes, plus many classic cars,trucks and vans, including candies, pearls, and murals.
As Mike mentioned, prepping is very important in painting anything.
Being retired now, a year ago, I painted a fender for my Beemer with rattle can black lacquer and clear coat. It turned out great.
Now that I'm retired, I no longer have a spray booth to use, so I either use rattle cans or send out the paint work.
Over the winter, I redid my bike. I prepped the Windjammer fairing and lowers, one side cover, 2 saddle bags and covers, rear trunk with cover, and both fenders.
I sanded, masked, primed, filled all the nicks and scratches, sanded again, then I took them to a local paint shop for the color and clear coating. Total cost was $350.00 including the paint and materials[$125].
I recommended the rattle can method for quick do-it-yourself remedy.
This way, your cost will be low if it doesn't turn out to your satisfaction.
Otherwise you can strip the tank, mask it off, sand it, prime it, do all the prep work then take it to a local body shop for color coat. That should keep the price low enough for your budget. It all depends on how good you want it :o)
here's a pic of my finished paint project.

I'm strictly an amateur rattle-can painter. One thing I found though is that a tack cloth (you use this after the liquid cleaner/wax remover) really helps in removing stray fibers, dust particles, etc.

Most of the generic auto parts stores have these.

Rich