Try using HTML::PullParser, like so:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

use HTML::PullParser;

print strip("<b>Hello</b>!\n");

sub strip {
  my $html = shift;
  my $parser = HTML::PullParser->new(
    doc => $html,
    text => 'text',
  );

  my $result = '';
  while(my $t = $parser->get_token) {
    $result .= $t->[0];
  }

  return $result;
};
[download]

bbfu
Seasons don't fear The Reaper.
Nor do the wind, the sun, and the rain.
We can be like they are.