You appear to be reinventing XML::Simple.

use strict;
use warnings;

use Data::Dumper qw( Dumper );
use XML::Simple  qw( :strict );

my $xml = do {
   local $/;
   <DATA>
};

my $tree = do {
   local $XML::Simple::PREFERRED_PARSER = 'XML::Parser';
   XMLin($xml,
       ForceArray => [],
       KeyAttr    => {},
   )
};

print(Dumper($tree));

__DATA__
<root>
<tag1>My Tag1</tag1>
<tag2>My Tag2</tag2>
<tag3>My Tag3</tag3>
</root>
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